5 TECHNIQUES TO HELP YOU MASTER YOUR STRESS
Introduction
Stress management is an important aspect of life, especially for military personnel, who frequently experience high levels of stress and/or anxiety due to the nature of the job and even the training that goes into it.
It is critical to recognise and address chronic stress symptoms because they can have serious long-term consequences for physical and mental health. But you can also look at minimising the negative effects of acute or situational stress so that you can improve your performance in that moment.
In this article, we will provide five examples of psychological techniques for stress management specifically for military personnel.
Segmentation
Segmentation is a quick and easy technique you can use to manage both acute and chronic stress. It allows you to compartmentalise the various aspects of your life and to focus on one task at a time.
By mentally dividing your tasks into separate segments, you focus solely on each task without the added pressure of thinking about all the other tasks at once.
For example, in the case of a UKSF candidate learning CQC/CQB for the first time, they will face high levels of self imposed stress and existential pressure from performance analysis cameras and DS on the catwalk. Segmentation can be particularly beneficial in helping them maintain their mental clarity and physical regulation.
Approaching a door, they would solely focus on their current role and responsibility within the stack and being present in the moment. Rather than thinking about what is on the other side, or how their last run went.
For chronic stress management, segmentation can be used to divide your personal and professional life. For example, you can designate specific times for work and specific times for family and leisure activities. With transition periods in-between using cues to switch between the two. For example when returning from work either remain in the car for 5 minutes or pull up before and have a short halt where you take a deep breath close your eyes and relax, before greeting your partner and kids.
By doing so, you are able to separate your work and personal life, reducing the stress of having to constantly balance the two simultaneously and react like a light switch.
Breathing Exercises
Breathing strategies such as Box Breathing can effectively tackle both short-term and long-term stress for individuals facing elevated stress levels daily.
These techniques help to regulate your body’s stress response and calm your mind, allowing you to shift your own internal state via your vagus nerve, rather than leaving you susceptible to external stimuli and potential over arousal.
Box Breathing is a straightforward and potent method that takes the form of; inhaling for 4 seconds, retaining the breath for 4 seconds, exhaling for 4 seconds, and finally holding the exhaled breath for 4 seconds.
This sequence can be repeated several times and can be performed anywhere, anytime, making it an ideal solution for stress management during demanding moments. Like on an insertion whilst seated on a helicopter before a job. Or in the moments leading up to being called forward for a test.
Utilising Box Breathing helps you remain composed and reduces your stress levels, improving your performance in high-stress scenarios. Moreover, incorporating “Box Breathing” into your daily routine can manage chronic stress and enhance overall wellness.
Mindfulness
Techniques such as mindfulness meditation can play a significant role in the management of both acute and chronic stress, mindfulness involves paying attention to your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations in the present moment without judgment. This has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety and improve overall well-being.
One example of using mindfulness would be to take a moment to pause and focus on your breathing and bodily sensations leading up to a jump. Noticing how you are breathing but not seeking to judge yourself for it, or focusing in on the sensation of how your chute feels around your shoulders. This can help to focus and calm your mind, bringing acute stress levels down to where they are beneficial rather than detrimental.
For chronic stress management, mindfulness meditation can be a very helpful tool to reduce stress and promote relaxation. Mindfulness practice positively impacts the areas of the brain associated with learning, memory, emotional regulation, empathy, compassion, perspective taking, and stress response. By taking even 5 minutes a day to sit and focus on your breath and other sensations, you can tap into these benefits and reduce the effects of chronic stress on your body.
It’s important to note that mindfulness should be practised regularly to reap its full benefits but like most things, practising little but often is always better.
Cognitive Restructuring
This technique involves replacing negative thought patterns with more positive and realistic ones.
You can systematise it by going through this sequence:
- Identifying automatic thoughts – thoughts that continually occur before or after difficult situations. “Am I good enough”
- Identifying cognitive distortions – negative or ultimately unhelpful and unhealthy thoughts and beliefs. “I might die”
- Dispute those thoughts – look for objective facts, situations or statements that dispute the distortions. “I’ve trained my whole life for this, there is a reason for why I am here”
- Replace those thoughts – find a way to apply the rational or objective perspective to keep your mind from spiralling further into negative thoughts. “I will do everything within my control to ensure, everyone comes home”
For acute stress management, you can use cognitive restructuring in real-time to question and reframe your negative thoughts. For example, instead of thinking “I can’t take much more of this,” you can reframe your thoughts to “I have faced tough situations before and not failed, I can handle this as well.” This shift in perspective can help to reduce stress and improve performance.
For managing chronic stress, cognitive restructuring can be used as a consistent strategy to change negative thought patterns that contribute to destructive internal dialogues. By identifying and reframing negative thoughts, you can develop a more positive outlook, reduce stress levels, and improve your well-being and happiness.
Grounding Techniques
Grounding is a useful technique for managing both acute and chronic stress and involves using your five senses to focus on the present moment and reduce stress.
Much like cognitive restructuring, you can use sensory grounding in real-time to reduce acute stress levels in high-pressure situations and focus your performance on the immediate task rather than letting your thoughts spiral out of your control.
For example, you can run through your senses in a “5 to 1” method.
Take a smooth breath in and out and take a moment to list:
- 5 things you can see
- 4 things you can feel
- 3 things you can hear
- 2 things you can smell
- 1 thing you can taste
For chronic stress, grounding can be used as a daily practice to reduce stress levels and improve your way of life and your longevity. You can engage in activities such as getting out into nature without being connected to a phone, aromatherapy, hot and cold therapy, mindful eating or even just talking with friends to ground yourself in the present moment and lower your stress.
Honourable Mention – Strength and Conditioning
Most of us know the myriad of benefits that a consistent strength and conditioning programme will give us. But from a long term stress management perspective it greatly helps us manage the damaging effects.
Musculoskeletal and mitochondrial health are two huge factors in being able to manage stress responses both acute and chronic. Training can also act as a grounding or anchoring activity for you to build other beneficial habits on top of such as nutrition and sleep hygiene habits.
Regular training can greatly improve the quality of sleep, reduce anxiety and depression, improve your immune system, and increase your resilience to stress. Consistently training even as little as 2 hours cumulatively a week is enough to reap these benefits and consistency in training is far better than the volume of your sessions or the intensity of them.
Conclusion
Much like all the techniques we’ve mentioned, there are many different styles of stress management that you can practice. Think of them as bits in a tool case, some stress is small and requires a smaller head and less torque to remove it. Some stress is much larger and requires a larger head possibly the application of oil (that’s not a euphemism for alcohol – although a beer and talk with a mate goes a long way) and time to dislodge it.
It’s always recommended to seek help from friends, family, and mental health professionals when needed, and to recognise the value of self-care as part of a fully integrated and holistic approach to your health and longevity.
It’s also important to remember that potentially not all of these techniques will work for you, and they all require a certain level of self-awareness and purposeful practice. You have to understand your own stress triggers and implement effective stress management strategies, it’s ultimately down to you to test and adjust to find what works for you.
However, with proper training and practice, they can all be highly effective tools to call upon and will lead to higher performance in your work and a much more productive life. If you’re interested in reading more about stress and understanding it have a read of this article (Link to blog: WHAT IS STRESS AND HOW TO MANAGE IT), where we cover the physiology of stress.
